Norah Jones
Norah Jones made her mark in music with her groundbreaking 2002 debut Come Away With Me album. This record earned both critical and commercial acclaim, garnering Norah multiple awards.
She has continued releasing albums and collaborating with artists throughout her career. Currently she lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.
Her childhood
Norah Jones first burst onto the international music scene with her 2002 record Come Away With Me, which quietly turned into an international success. Since then she has sold more than 52 million albums and her songs have been streamed over 10 billion times worldwide. Norah won nine Grammy awards over her lifetime for this work, becoming an international phenomenon along the way.
As a child, she participated in church choirs while studying piano, guitar, and alto saxophone. She attended Colleyville Middle School and Grapevine High School before transferring to Dallas’ Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts where she performed both on alto saxophone as well as sang in choirs.
She studied jazz music at the University of North Texas. Since then, she’s released numerous successful albums.
Jones first made her acting debut in 2007’s Wong Kar-Wai film My Blueberry Nights and soon after recorded an acoustic album called Feels Like Home that showcased her soft voice set against jazzy acoustics. For her second record The Fall she added electric instruments with more rock/soul influences to broaden her musical repertoire further.
Her education
Norah Jones makes being authentic, warm and understated look effortless in today’s music scene of loud vocalists vying to sell more albums than their competition. Norah makes walking this line look effortless while placing art before commerce or celebrity status.
She studied music at Interlochen Center for the Arts during summers before going on to graduate from University of North Texas, specializing in jazz piano. Additionally, she sang with Laszlo band and twice won Down Beat’s Student Music Awards as Best Jazz Singer (1996) and 1997 respectively.
Norah moved to New York City in 1999 in order to write songs, and her debut album Come Away With Me became an instantaneous hit when released in 2002. Its blend of jazz, folk, country and pop won her multiple Grammy awards. Since then she’s recorded Visions of Love over an intensive year-long recording process with producer Leon Michels (known for working with Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys and Gnarls Barkley), who added new funk and psychedelic flavors that added extra pizzazz into Jones’ signature sound.
Her music
Norah Jones first made her mark with her multi-platinum debut Come Away With Me, released in 2002. Since then, this 9-time GRAMMY winner has released 8 more critically and commercially successful albums which span jazz, country and folk-rock genres through her various groups and collaborations.
Her voice is both disarming and soothing, and her piano playing expressive. These elements come together into a uniquely personalized musical style which can range from comical to heartfelt in an instant.
Norah welcomes masterful singer-songwriter Alynda Segarra of Hurray For The Riff Raff to World Cafe for an engaging discussion and performance of two elegant originals as well as an inspiring cover song – it’s not one to miss!
Her personal life
Norah Jones has been married twice, divorced twice, and currently resides in New York City with her son. She often collaborates with sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar; with whom she often collaborates. Jones has also served as guest vocalist on albums by Foo Fighters, Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, Jeff Tweedy & Outkast among other artists.
Her 2002 debut album Come Away With Me was met with rave reviews, becoming one of the best-selling albums ever made. Known for its mixture of acoustic pop and jazz influences, Come Away With Me marked an exciting new talent in music world.
Jones made her mark with her debut album, but subsequent releases saw a shift away from jazz toward country listening and writing styles. 2009’s The Fall explored the end of a romantic relationship while 2012’s Little Broken Hearts showcased moody electric instrumentation mixed with rock and soul elements. Jones has also performed duets with Billie Joe Armstrong as well as Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane.